Observations — No 2.
On freedom of thought vs decision and direction.
(This is the ongoing story of Matthew Knight, who is trying to figure out his next career step should be, spending his notice period exploring, questioning, pondering and musing.)
My most recent post about the next six months surprised me massively. It knocked up 200,000 views, 200 odd comments, and a whole load of discussion about the idea of leaving a job without a secured role to step into next. A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to reply and comment. I tried to get back to absolutely everyone, but in reading the comments — there were clearly a number of key themes in response to the question — would you do that?
I’ve also spent a great deal of time with people over coffee, not asking anything in particular, but just listening to what people are up to at the moment — the challenges they see the future of work facing, the way in which they’re evolving and adapting their own careers or teams, the way in which they see things changing, where they thing it might be heading, and plenty of tangental topics too.
I’ve not only been so very pleasantly surprised at how much time and openness people are willing to give — but also the passion and wisdom, not a single person I’ve had the opportunity to speak to so far has not lacked excitement, energy and enthusiasm in telling some sort of story about what they’re doing — and for me, this fills me with such joy to hear people talking passionately.
Each conversation, I walk away with copious notes and scribbles, some align with other conversations, some are completely new ideas, others are completely disconnected to anything.
At the end of each day I try and let the themes wash over me a little — and digest the thoughts — and then I start to kick myself a little — these conversations are really interesting, fascinating, inspiring, but Matthew — you’re looking for a job, not just a coffee with an amazing story attached.
The voices in my head start to argue — “just believe in the process, things will connect over time!” “But the clock is ticking and you need to make sure you’re able to pay your bills and deliver on your responsibilities.”
Meditation helps, as does a little piece of paper I’ve drawn all over in pencil crayons (mostly because there were a handful scattered on the kitchen floor from after the weekend, and the best tool is often the one you have closest).
It’s a little drawing of a fish.
Its head is about taking stuff in, expansive, divergent, explorative, widening. It’s about being open to all sorts of inputs. Doesn’t really matter what they are, just eat, drink, listen, embrace.
Then there’s another section of the fish which narrows back down again — I guess that’s about starting to discard the things which are less interesting, less motivating, less tangible, less valuable.
Then there is the tail — which is forked, a number of different routes, which are a little more expansive again, adding detail, specifics, but pointing at something, a clear direction.
That’s my process — and right now I’m in the eating and drinking phase.
Frameworks or processes are incredibly useful. Especially for someone who’s mind, like mine, can run at over 100mph easily, overthinking and overcorrecting things, they help me move from box to box without getting stuck somewhere. It’s like HelloFresh — the thinking of what to cook is done for you, so you can enjoy the cooking and sharing of a meal, or colouring by numbers, that you can focus on the action and behaviour rather than decision making. There’s a time for process, and a time for complete freedom. There are core scaffolds and guardrails which keep the things which are not really up for discussion in place, and allow flexibility and movement in the right places. Processes are about freeing you up to focus on the important things, rather than the steps. A good process should save you time to do better work, not add more work.
So I keep coming back to the fish.
And let myself be okay with just taking stuff in right now.
There will be a time for the filtering and the fork of the tail, but not yet.
This article has been published as part of an ongoing series of posts related to me looking for my next role. I’m working out a six-month notice period as Head of Strategy and Innovation, and wondering what I could/should/might do next. I’d love to hear from you if you’ve been on, or are considering or would never go on a similar journey.
